[Dave Rice]

Looks like the latest dead cat is the statues. Plenty of Trumpian twitters going on.

As far as “democracy” goes, a poll by the local daily paper (10,252 responses in less than three days) finds: “Bristol has spoken – and most people are glad the Colston statue was pulled down.
The majority said the statue should not have been put up in the first place.” I doubt you will hear this cited by the likes of Kit Malthouse or the right wing TV commentators though.

It should have gone years ago, or at least have the second plaque put on it, but that was blocked repeatedly not least by Cllr Richard Eddy (who resigned as deputy leader of the Conservative group in 2001 after using a golliwog doll as a mascot). Describing the proposals for a new plaque as “nauseous”, he said any attempts to “unilaterally remove it might be justified”. Of course he now leads the pack of those condemning the actions on Sunday being “horrified by the “rank lawlessness” of anti-racist protesters”.

The straw that broke the camels back for me was finding out the Royal African Company branded men, women and children with the company logo. As Deputy Governor of the company he must have known. As for his “good works”, he constituted his charities to deny their benefits to those who did not share his religious and political views.

Now I know this was all common practice at the time, but this is now and even if you argue we shouldn’t judge him with today’s morals neither should we continue to celebrate him either. He’s in the M Shed museum on the docks, where the Bristol and the Transatlantic Slave Trade exhibit is permanently housed, and that is where he belongs.

[Boris]

Don’t forget, the whole slavery concept goes way back thousands of years – e.g. the Roman Empire couldn’t work without slaves.

There are statues of Roman Emperors Trajan in London on Tower Hill, Constantine in York and a whole clutch in the baths at Bath that I know of – presumably they all have to go as well ?

Never trust an atom - they make up everything !

[Ed P]

I suggest that we drop the slave trade protest comments otherwise we will descend into discussing all  the British slaves sold by the Vikings to the Turks! As Boris stated it was something that used to be common practice around the world, and many African tribes were in fact complicit in the trade. To the general shame of the world it still goes on in one form or another.

The past cannot be changed, instead we should learn lessons and move on and ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

[Dave Rice]

I don’t believe anyone tried to claim that the Roman Emperors were virtuous people we should look up to and be grateful to for their charitable works. We were all taught at school exactly what sort of people they were.

Why should we look up to someone who had children branded like cattle? That’s the answer I’d like to hear from those who defend his place at the heart of my city. It happened, we got over it, he belongs in a museum not on the street.

[RSB]

Please! This is the corona thread, move it on elsewhere.

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[Ed P]

The US (and UK) are currently accidentally providing the opportunity for huge Petr–dish experiments into what does or does not matter with respect to spreading covid-19. One intersting ‘experiment’ took place in Missouri in which zero social distance (infected hairdressers) was offset by the infected people wering masks. No cases have so far been reported in their 140 customers.

I suspect we may well see BoJo doing a Santa Claus act to further bury talk about Cumming’s flight from London, and announce that social distancing can be cut to one metre if everyone masks when outside their houses, as mask wearing more than offsets reduced social distancing.

I shall then take great pleasure in walking around with a smile on my face.

(Etsy Face Mask)

[Dave Rice]

These are the masks that were of no medical benefit? Sorry, face coverings.

Funnily enough I just ordered some washable ones to go with the disposable ones I already have in the work bag. Just need some work now…

[Ed P]

I’d dispute that,. Studies have shown that simple masks (let alone PM2.5 pollen grain/pollution masks) are more effective than increasing social distancing from one to two metres. However everyone has to wear them as the main benefit comes from cutting transmission FROM infected asymptomatic wearers, so even putting a smile on your face helps!

link

Interestingly Australia reported that social distancing , mask wearing and vaccination  seemed to have substantially reduced their normal seasonal flu epidemic. Its obviously impossible to separate the value of each anti-covid measure in cutting down flu

However, an earlier study showed that even simple masks cut flu transmission, (flu is normally carried in fine aerosols rather than the larger particles associated with covid.)

link

[Dave Rice]

I’d dispute that,.

I agree with you, I meant from the Govt point of view. They seem to be U turning on every measure.

1 metre distancing will be in by the end of the month.

[Ed P]

Well Dave, you were absolutely correct in forcasting that the NHSX Track & Trace app would not work, but I suppose with hindsight I should not have hoped for anything better with Dido Harding (COO of TalkTalk infamy) in charge.

[Dave Rice]

Sad isn’t it? More over promising by Bojo and friends. I seriously doubt we will have any app at all. How much money has followed it? I see Hancock is blaming Apple.

[The Duke]

This government is beyond an F-ing joke at the moment. Talk about Flip flop and indecision.

In my community we’d just like any decision. In England they said 22nd June pubs could open beer gardens. Well that date came and went. Now English pubs are told they may get to open July 4th.

We are 2 weeks away form that date, and the government are yet to release the guidelines pubs will have to meet! It’s not an industry that can be rw started at a drop of a hat. And there is too much money at risk to go proactively speculation what the gov will want us to implement.

Never mind I’m already getting calls from reps asking what types of numbers will I be buying in and when would I be looking at doing so, as they all have limited supply, so it’s first come  first served.

Which isn’t great given we (the pubs) have no idea if people are gonna pour in or trickle back. Given the loss we have just had to suck up, we cart go out guessing at what covid implementations we should do, and we can’t take a punt on 1000s of pounds worth of beers, cos it only has a max of a 2 month shelf life.

I could sell 10k worth in a week, or it may just sit there and fester.

 

That’s my rant out the way.

 

Back to the track and trace, what a royal F-up . Why not let Google and apple handle it all. I trust them both more than the NHS/gov. They could do track and trace so easily, it be totally anonymised to boot.

They could just treat the phone as the person, and send it a notification, you’ve possibly been infected, please isolate, if you get really ill follow this advice ….. Google and apple already have the tracking data on all these devices. It’s simple for them to have every phones movements plotted on a map by time. Any phoen that comes withing X yards, gets the ‘possible infection’.

 

The numbers can then be reported to governments etc. But no pricey needs to be broken . They could probably both do this within week or two with a simple update, and a script.

But no BJ wanted to actually know who is being tracked etc.. . Who the person is doesn’t really matter.

[johnbarry]

12 days left and I can go out :yahoo:

Cheers
John

[JayCeeDee]

One of the problems that the apps will face, is the use of Bluetooth Low Energy rather than GPS data, due to privacy concerns.

GPS would tell the app owners exactly where you were, to within a metre, and also identify a phone that was near you, whereas BLE could tell which phone was near you ( less accurately distance wise, maybe between 1 metre and 10 metres, but they’re not sure ) but not put a geo-location on it.

It could also end up notifying people who were outside the 2-metre social distancing margin, but within the 10 metre range, that they had to self-isolate as they’d come into contact with a Covid19 carrier. The whole thing is a farce and doesn’t seem to have the “safe middle ground” Hancock seems to be seeking/demanding.

An interesting article HERE from the inventors of Bluetooth about the problems.

There are also lots of problems with having BT on all the time regarding battery life, ( and not everybody even wanting to ) plus problems with BLE switching off on some iPhones when the battery is above 80%!! Plus the general vagueness of distance measuring, for something like T&T which is distance critical. Interesting article HERE.

Interesting times ahead for this one.

I don’t know where it’s all headed – maybe down a DEAD END!! 

[Ed P]

There was an interview last night with the Brit involved in the development of the Google/Android app. He said that Germany and Switzerland had just started using it and already had a 60% sign-up. He also said the EU had agreed to use the unmodified Google/Android standard and any Brits coming into the EU would probably have to use their App if our App deviated.

He also revealed that he had written to the Government on 11 April to tell them that the NHSX app would never work with iPhones, and he essentially received a ‘run-away sonny’ from Dido Harding;’s group. He also said that the NHSX ‘improvements’ would mean that anyone could latch on to someone’s Bluetooth signal in a Shopping Mall and track them all over the Mall – sounds like yet another NHSX failure to me!

I suspect that when the journalists latch on to his interview they will be putting the incompetent Dido on the rack, and judging from last night’s performance she could crack and spill the beans.

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

I suspect that when the journalists latch on to his interview they will be putting the incompetent Dido on the rack, and judging from last night’s performance she could crack and spill the beans.

That’s probably be why she won’t be there, and when asked, they’ll say she had her outing yesterday and they’ve moved on to another priority/aspect, or some such Politician BS. :scratch: The Update should have been just that – keeping the public aware, but it’s turned into Politicians tip-toeing through the turds dropped in their path by the journalists. :wacko: :yahoo:

[Dave Rice]

I see we’ve gone from 4 to 3. I think that is the excuse to go to 1 metre and getting the trolls too interested in going dahn the pub than watching the TV criticism.

[Ed P]

I happened to look at the newspaper rack while waiting in line at the Supermarket and nearly fell over backwards the Daily Mail was ranting about Covid on the front page and the incompetent Government they helped to elect. It even had a larger typeface than Dame Vera Lynn!

Poor Mushroom Matt – he may as well give up all his political ambitions and go back to being an economist right now. They will probably find a job for Dido Harding as Ambassador to Sudan or some other equally ‘nice’ far away place. (btw Sudan was always rated as the worst possible UK Ambassadorial posting – either a newbie or someone they wanted to lose/bury always had that slot.)

 

[Bob Williams]

What a stinking pile of ordure these government messages are becoming. There is not one of this crew with an ounce of organisational sense.

Steve, I know how your situation must feel. Our usual pub/restaurant  is only 100 yards down the road, I can see it from the window of the apartment. We got to know the family quite well and I have spoken to the landlord since closure. He is in absolute despair, trying to make ends meet with takeaways but there is a heck of a lot of competition in Louth, it’s a “Foodie Town” and everyone is at it, from restaurants to chippies. Their Polish chef wants to go home and so do his waiting staff, but they are awaiting permission to travel. The meals there were fantastic, but how they will find another chef as good in a town and location full of places trying to re-hire, is another story.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Bob, I suspect that with the numbers of restaurants going belly up, finding good chefs may be the least of their problems.

[Author]

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